November Anysoldier

My November Anysoldier is a bit different that usual.

The Woman's Literary Club to which I belong is doing a book and magazine drive in honor of Veteran's Day, and sending them as care packages via Anysoldier.  I am organizing this effort, so I was searching the posts to find requests that corresponded with the materials that I had been given.  While doing so, I found a post from a soldier in Afghanistan, asking for socks, shoes, coats, hats, and gloves for the children in the village near her base.  She requested either new or used, so I could actually afford to help.  I trucked over to the ARC (my favorite thrift store) and found eight pairs of shoes at 4 / $1 and two jackets for $5 each.  Then I went to Wal-Mart where I picked up some boys socks for $7.67 (including sales tax).

Honestly, this coat is so adorable that if I could have gotten it on my body, I'd totally have stolen it from the Afghan children;)  And it is London Fog, too, so it should last forever.

This one is from Old Navy, so it probably won't last nearly as long.  It looks nice and warm, though.

If you look very carefully under the yellow size label in the top right corner, you will see that these were made in Pakistan.  I though it quite amusing that they were sent here to small town, USA, just to be sent back to the same part of the world for use.

And, finally, the shoes I sent.  I admit that the first three pairs from the left on the back row are cleats.  They were all in pretty good condition, though, and I thought there might be a few boys who would enjoy having proper cleats to play games with.

Astute readers will have noticed that I reported purchasing 8 pair of shoes, and only 7 are pictured.  I had also purchased a pair of fake crocs because they were in like-new condition.  Then I found a different soldier who was looking particularly for child's crocs (or equivalent), SGT David M. Wright.  So he got these:

He also requested cards, so I send the last five packages of cards that I had bought in July.  They were mostly pretty girly, but he reported that he was requesting for two women as well, so hopefully they can use them.

The shoes and coats required two large boxes to mail, so all together I am out $27.95 for postage.  With the $19.67 I am out of pocket for the clothing, that comes to a total of $47.62.  Yep, it was more expensive to mail the things than to purchase them.  It's a bit more than I usually try to spend, but I won't be sending anything more until late January, as the military mail is pretty much overwhelmed during the holidays.

If you are moved to help out either of these soldiers, their addresses can be found by looking up their names on Anysoldier.com/wheretosend, and by searching for them by last name.

SGT Jessica L. Shaffer is looking for coats, hats, gloves, shoes, and socks, in new or used condition for Afghan children that live near her unit.  Note that anything sent should be addressed Attn: Winter Drive.

SGT David M. Wright is looking for crocs (or equivalent) sized for children, coloring books, crayons, soccer balls, and dolls for Afghan children that his unit interacts with.  His unit could also use law enforcement equipment, gun cleaning equipment, military-approved safety glasses, cards, holiday decorations, letters from supporters, and other some things that you can see on Anysoldier.com.